tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303296412012-02-02T08:06:35.391ZThe notes of Tomáš Ruta, a Czech and a European in YorkshireTnoreply@blogger.comBlogger531100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-47835191641398149662008-12-01T02:47:00.003Z2010-01-30T23:21:09.865Z

Hey guys,I haven't posted anything for well over a year, without ever writing a proper farewell-to-blogging note. That is mainly because I never actually assumed a blogger identity. In other words, I was never immersed in the blogosphere and blogged furiously just for the sake of it. So one day I stopped posting and that was it. The reason I am writing this post is that people have been

Tnoreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-84078987027983645812007-07-07T18:33:00.000Z2007-07-07T17:45:00.476Z

1) Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy2) Gerhard Schröder3) Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

Tnoreply@blogger.com253tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-48223079816668016182007-07-07T00:14:00.000Z2007-07-07T23:50:45.502Z

First of all, let me warn you: this time it's going to get personal. Unlikely as it may sound, I used to be quite a footballer when I was younger. I played for Slovan Liberec, the only Czech team to claim the league title twice after 1990 except of Sparta Prague. Our famous post-2000 moments include trashing AC Milan 2:1 or wiping out the floor with Olympique Lyon 4:0. Because I was lucky enough

Tnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-45134818277447566512007-07-05T21:41:00.000Z2007-07-06T09:12:42.626Z

The article "Serbia owed justice in Kosovo" appeared in The Japan Times on Monday. I could not possibly agree more with the writer: Serbs are no villains and Kosovo should remain Serbian.Here are some good points made by Gregory Clark, the author; but if you can, try to read the whole thing.1) 1 million of Serbs were killed by the Croats and Bosnian Muslims, who sided with the Nazis, in WWII.2)

Tnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-44012244116516618242007-07-05T18:43:00.000Z2007-07-05T16:43:31.067Z

On Friday the Hamas al-Aqsa TV aired the last episode of its controversial children's show, "The Pioneers of Tomorrow". The star of the programme is Farfour, a Mickey Mouse lookalike who talks like Osama bin Laden. I already wrote about the earlier episode in which Farfour was reprimanded for using the English language.In the scene above, Farfour's grandfather hands him a key and what is

Tnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-45675471968392610812007-06-26T23:45:00.000Z2007-06-27T06:18:49.102Z

Though Brown's Cabinet will have to do without some "talents", the new prime minister has a lot to choose from on his own benches.Don't think so? Try to put together your own Cabinet; the comments from the experts from the Fisburn Hedges consultancy are rather spot on! I bet Iain Dale is pretty close with his predictions.Hat tip: Daniel Finkelstein.

Tnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-58732614690149729392007-06-25T21:32:00.000Z2007-06-26T01:24:26.608Z

The petition to back Tony Blair's decision to honour Salman Rushdie with a knighthood is finally on the 10 Downing Street website. It was submitted by Daniel Finkelstein, The Times chief comment editor; I wrote about it few days ago.Here is the wording of the petition again:"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to accept our congratulations for recommending to the Queen that Salman

Tnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-65442367269273176722007-06-23T22:12:00.000Z2007-06-24T01:05:38.890Z

Lil' Bush: Resident of the United States is a new cartoon on the US Comedy Central channel. Essential viewing for anyone who cannot kick back without politics.Wikipedia provides a good review of the programme:"Lil' Bush takes place in an alternate reality version of modern times, where George H.W. Bush is president and George W. Bush ("Lil' Bush" on the show) as well as other major modern

Tnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-4723171402165739472007-06-23T07:13:00.000Z2007-06-23T07:26:19.991Z

The Economist's Edward Lucas complains about the dullness of political leaders in the post-communist space (again). The Czech president Václav Klaus is anything but dull, though admittedly he does not make a good listener:"Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, by contrast, is exactly the same whether you have known him for ten minutes or 20 years: abrasive, forceful,well-informed and magnificently

Tnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-79231000093178511782007-06-22T22:03:00.000Z2007-07-07T23:44:24.802Z

The French delegation apparently managed to had changed the Reform Treaty's draft without anyone noticing, even though the document was circulated by the German Presidency on Tuesday. The clause "The Union shall establish an internal market where competition is free and undistorted", which was in the original Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (Article I-3 (2)), was replaced by "The

Tnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-68406309017127545822007-06-22T21:21:00.000Z2007-06-23T07:25:00.203Z

Number 10 Downing Street refers to the "EU Commission President Javier Solano" in a news item on its website. Just how did that happen?(For those who don't happen to be EU geeks: Javier Solana is the EU's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Commission President is José Manuel Durão Barroso.)There is some excellent reporting on the ongoing European Council summit

Tnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-77233020988615054392007-06-21T01:32:00.000Z2007-06-21T02:20:08.126Z

Salman Rushdie was awarded a knighthood on Saturday. Britain's decision to honour Rushdie enraged the Islamic world; the harshest disapproval came from Pakistan and Iran. The Muslim protests reminded the world of the storm which followed after the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran pronounced a fatwa (death sentence) on Rushdie over alleged blasphemies against Islam in his iconic 1988 novel

Tnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-43730269713870717892007-06-21T00:45:00.000Z2007-06-21T03:12:14.789Z

Foreign Policy has published its annual Failed States Index. Sudan tops the list, closely followed by Iraq, Somalia, Zimbabwe and Chad.There are three European countries in top 60: Moldova (48th place), Belarus (51st) and Bosnia (54th). The aspiring NATO member Georgia is on 58th place.By the way, my friend Ecaterina Sanalatii has just started blogging for Transitions Online on Moldova, check it

Tnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-46590443152703763682007-06-18T15:27:00.000Z2007-06-18T19:54:14.934Z

The British Labour Party (now with its own channel on YouTube) is in the process of choosing the new party leadership. Gordon Brown is to become the new party leader unchallenged, as the Blairites did not manage to persuade David Miliband to run.Brown is now touring the country with his "Gordon Brown for Britain" campaign, trying to build up a momentum before the start of his premiership.

Tnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-27963373380369811532007-06-15T19:12:00.000Z2007-06-15T19:35:45.652Z

Don't expect any serious analysis of the 2008 presidential race. The excuse for posting this music video featuring a hot girl "who's got a crush on Obama" is that it's already been viewed by over half a million people on YouTube. Compare that to the popularity of an average broadcast on Obama's official YouTube channel, usually seen by mere 3000 people. The voters simply prefer to hear it from

Tnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-22759594267389501472007-06-14T02:02:00.000Z2007-06-14T02:51:39.278Z

The Charlemagne column in last week's edition of The Economist complained about the static intellectual debate in Brussels. The think tanks there are apparently too dependent on the Commission's funding to come up with bold, challenging ideas. That certainly isn't true about London, where think tanks churn out radical proposals which often make it to parties' election manifestos.New Statesman

Tnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-66881997972494755492007-06-13T03:48:00.000Z2007-06-13T05:12:20.517Z

I almost choked on my cornflakes when I read the paper this morning. Except I didn't because I read news online. And as I am sure my readers are dying to know, I don't usually have cornflakes for breakfast! But it just sounded as such a cool way to start a post with. I am a fast learner.Anyway, to the point. The Daily Telegraph, a staunchly Eurosceptical outlet, published a comment piece

Tnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-68760798797170432882007-06-12T15:52:00.000Z2007-06-15T19:37:07.116Z

Yet another soon-to-be-famous YouTube moment. 300 000 people so far have watched George Bush being stripped off his watch by the crowd of cheering Albanians in the village of Fushe Kruja.The excited villagers tried to shake Bush's hand or at least touch him, while chanting "Bushie, Bushie". As Bush re-emerged from the crowd, it was clearly visible that his watch was missing. According to the

Tnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-13981136991192633752007-06-12T03:50:00.000Z2007-06-12T15:29:40.191Z

There is a superb debate on this perennial issue on Gideon Rachman's brilliant blog. Rachman is the chief foreign affairs commentator of The Financial Times and served as the Asia correspondent in the early 90s, so he has got a firm grip of the subject."The reason that China will eventually be the world's largest economy is that its population is roughly four times that of the United States.

Tnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-60284028912734250412007-06-11T00:01:00.001Z2007-07-07T23:50:45.502Z

George Bush visited Albania yesterday. His visit was an apparent gesture aimed at boosting the Albanian confidence prior to concluding the final deal on the future status of Kosovo.He outlined his "strategy" for resolving the stalemate: "One, that we need to get moving. And two, that the end result is independence. And we spent a lot of time talking about this issue, here." Bush said he does not

Tnoreply@blogger.com51tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-37299480945974142822007-06-08T22:47:00.000Z2007-06-09T13:20:11.987Z

Falwell, the outspoken leader of America's religious right, died last month. Now he is looking down from the heavenly heights and I bet he is pleased with the recent Polish authorities' decision to examine whether Tinky Winky, a character from the BBC's show for children, is not promoting homosexuality. Falwell himself launched an attack on embattled Tinky Winky 8 years ago: "He is purple - the

Tnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-13271175363910399392007-06-07T00:19:00.000Z2007-06-07T14:53:49.776Z

A 16-strong Action Committee for European Democracy, the so called "Amato Group", published its draft of a new EU treaty on Monday 4 June. The Committee, which is not an official body and consisted of "private citizens", started its work in September 2006. The document's rationale is desribed here (3 pages); explanatory memorandum is available here (6 pages). The Committee's work is also

Tnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-88289006201544797402007-06-05T02:56:00.000Z2007-07-07T23:50:45.503Z

Air Force One with George and Laura Bush aboard landed at the Prague Ruzyně airport yesterday. Bush has come to broker a deal on the controversial US radar base to be located in the Brdy mountains. But I don't intend to write about the radar and the relations with Russia. I will just say that I am in favour of hosting the base.I am here to highlight the effort (still searching for a suitable

Tnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-82787497956668446262007-05-19T22:37:00.000Z2007-06-15T19:37:07.117Z

That's who we are up against. Hard to disagree with what George Bush said right after 9/11: "This crusade, this war on terrorism is gonna take a while."

Tnoreply@blogger.com73tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-10051610155738192862007-05-17T00:52:00.000Z2007-05-17T11:26:11.289Z

The EUobserver reports that Angela Merkel "voiced regret there will be no reference to Christian roots in the revised EU treaty". May I express my utmost sympathy for Frau Merkel. No, really, I mean it. Although my Facebook profile describes my religious views as "devout atheist", I would sincerely welcome a mention of God in the EU Constitution.European culture is based on Roman law, Greek

Tnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-12010674428541525872007-05-09T00:42:00.000Z2007-05-09T03:08:45.126Z

I recently reported that I took part in local elections in York. It turns out that at least 52 fellow students were denied the experience, as the University forgot to put them on the electoral register. In Scotland, over 100 000 ballot papers were spoilt due to the voters' difficulties with understanding the new voting machines and the "complex" electoral system used to elect the Scottish

Tnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-43056953054382374332007-05-04T00:07:00.000Z2007-07-07T23:46:47.535Z

One gets used to the constant attacks on anything European by the British media. The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph or Rupert Murdoch's The Sun and The Times put a negative spin on anything associated with the EU. So it came to me as no surprise that this week's Spectator had an article entitled "Quisling invented the EU". After all, the Speccie is still as Eurosceptical as ever even though its

Tnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-49373529956767962582007-05-03T17:11:00.000Z2007-05-03T17:26:23.402Z

I have just returned from the polling station. Yes, I am now in York and yes, I have not got a British passport. But as an EU citizen, I am now entitled to vote (or indeed stand) in local or European elections in any EU country where I reside.What a satisfaction after what happened in my General Studies class shortly after I came to Britain three years ago. The teacher in my £12 000-a-year London

Tnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-4478737840435785792007-05-02T00:46:00.000Z2007-07-07T23:46:47.535Z

As a proud member of JEF (Young European Federalists), I am publishing our press release concerning Angela Merkel's efforts to rescue the European Constitution:In reply to the letter sent out by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to her 26 European counterparts, the Young European Federalists (JEF Europe) take a stand on 12 questions concerning the future of the Constitution. In their open reply

Tnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-87969875245104393792007-04-18T00:27:00.000Z2007-04-18T22:38:48.647Z

I am backing Nicolas Sarkozy in the French presidential election. I have been following the campaign closely, thanks to the brilliant reporting by Tim King in the Prospect and Charles Bremner, The Times correspondent in Paris. The Times gave support to Sarkozy (as did The Economist) in the leader published today: "He understands the need to repair relations with America, tackle the extremism and

Tnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-22794810787109566812007-04-17T01:23:00.000Z2007-04-18T23:05:02.185Z

My grandma who lives in the countryside recently asked me why it is that all the young and talented people leave the countryside nowadays. Few farmers survive where there used to be huge farming cooperatives giving employment to everyone in the village only 15 years ago. The reality of rural life has changed completely. The schools in the countryside have disappeared. Most of the people left

Tnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-3046243526034596542007-04-16T20:31:00.000Z2007-06-08T22:38:48.849Z

Paul Wolfowitz has faced the pressure to resign from his position as the World Bank's President after it came out that he fixed a rapid pay rise and promotion for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza. The Wall Street Journal proves that the current furore is just a smear campaign against Wolfowitz. Check it out. Worryingly, the media seemed happy to sink Wolfowitz for his "neo-con legacy", without checking

Tnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-40162804899980809202007-03-02T16:24:00.000Z2007-06-21T04:06:31.108Z

Myra von Ondarza from the University of Hamburg, Germany is conducting a study on the motivational processes of Eurobloggers from a social, political and psychological point of view. SHE NEEDS TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! It would be great if you could fill in this questionnaire; it only takes about 15 minutes.As soon as the data is evaluated, you will be able to read a summary of the results on the

Tnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-50450904992884808002007-02-13T09:03:00.000Z2007-05-03T17:31:20.589Z

The Times reports that the EU is going to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome by staging a football match on 13 March: the Europe XI led by David Beckham is going to take on Manchester United, who are currently sitting at the top of the English Premiership table. The match is to be played at the famous Reds' stadium, the Old Trafford. Marcello Lippi, the coach of the last

Tnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-86994490343338599312007-02-10T11:30:00.000Z2007-04-17T23:50:00.921Z

The Battle of Strasbourg has long been raging, escalating once in while. Recently the One Seat campaign collected one million signatures in support of its proposal that Brussels becomes the sole seat of the European Parliament.Yet the French government threatens to use the veto power in the European Council should the matter be raised there. That epitomizes the current French approach to Europe;

Tnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-80815267322951973472007-02-10T05:43:00.000Z2007-06-12T04:22:59.932Z

David Frum from the National Review links to a hilarious music video made by 4 US soldiers serving in Kosovo. The parody of the Beach Boys also criticises the US foreign policy in the region.We'll kick some ass - then we'll see how it goesAnd then we really don't know ...Good luck to Kosovo!Everytime we go to to little places like KosovoWe never really know, what happens after we goTough luck for

Tnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-50358572806880335012007-02-02T23:10:00.001Z2007-07-07T23:46:47.536Z

The European think tanks have published some interesting analyses on the big issues facing the German European Council Presidency in next half a year. Let' s have a brief look at what they have come up with.The London-based Open Europe, which advocated the British withdrawal from the European Union, has produced The EU in 2007 report. It analyses how the French presidential election will

Tnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-52602639895911171552007-01-30T22:22:00.000Z2007-01-30T23:29:20.962Z

Recently I started posting more frequently on The Voice of Europe. As a result, I got listed by several top Eurobloggers. First I was blogrolled by DJ Nozem, then my blog appeared on Erkan's field diary. Legendary Nosemonkey, famous for starting the Europhobia blog, added me in his "newish EU blog roundup" on 25 January. But most rewarding of all was to be noticed by A Fistful of Euros blog,

Tnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-9551769933549951962007-01-25T14:46:00.000Z2007-04-25T13:59:19.372Z

My article on the reframing of the EU Enlargement has been published on Le Taurillon, the online version of Young European Federalists' The New Federalist magazine. I have made some small changes in the text, but the idea remains the same: the European Union enlargement should be presented as the process of European unification, because that is what it is.

Tnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-40553615260613995602007-01-25T04:59:00.000Z2007-01-25T22:15:09.749Z

The June general election landed my homeland in the worst political deadlock imaginable. The lower chamber was divided into two blocs of equal size; the winning Civic Democrats (ODS), Christian Democrats (KDU - ČSL) and the Greens stood against the Social Democrats (ČSSD) and the Communists (KSČM). As the prospects of reaching any settlement were rapidly fading, Oldřich Průša aptly dubbed Czechia

Tnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-82220658432274166262007-01-16T04:20:00.000Z2007-07-07T23:46:47.536Z

I believe that all European nations have an undeniable right to become a part of a united European state ultimately. West Germany did have a moral obligation to unite with East Germany after the Berlin Wall fell. The German re-unification has not brought the West Germany economic gain, yet noone would argue that the re-unification should not have taken place. The West Germans felt solidary with

Tnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-68652425978683794072007-01-03T23:17:00.000Z2007-06-12T04:21:36.834Z

I compiled the list of the worst wrong-doers in the political arena in the past year. By no means is the list exhaustive or complete; it rather constitutes a random collection of my thoughts.The "Baddie" goes to the Myanmar junta. The clever generals know that no news about Burma (Myanmar) is good news for them. But the international community cannot let the situation in Burma be forgotten. We

Tnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-76467426520630364622006-12-23T22:00:00.000Z2008-12-09T16:42:42.524Z

I really feel with the shareholders of the Danish food conglomerate Arla. Arla's profits plunged rapidly in the aftermath of the publication of the Muhammad cartoons in Jyllands Posten. Arla has clearly been trying hard to improve its image; it was rather amusing to find them at the finance careers fair at my university, among the likes of Morgan Stanley and KPMG. (Someone should have told them

Tnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-1166720099661775932006-12-21T19:51:00.000Z2007-07-07T23:46:47.537Z

It has definitely been an eventful year in Polish politics. Warsaw Business Journal ran a feature summarising the most bizarre events which affected the Polish political landscape in last 12 months.Everyone has heard of the Polish plumber and the Polish-German potato war, sparked off by Die Tageszeitung. However, the mayoral election in Białystok went largely unnoticed outside Poland, which is a

Tnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-1163928955605041852006-11-19T09:22:00.000Z2006-12-21T23:26:44.382Z

In the beginning, blogging was reserved for computer nerds. Then the whinging masses started to write their web diaries. The pundits followed. But now even the established think tanks believe that if they want to stay connected with the "real people", they have to start blogging.Civitas was the first cuckoo; but recently the Eurosceptic Open Europe and Europhile Centre for European Reform,

Tnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-1163919732461231552006-11-19T07:02:00.000Z2007-06-12T04:24:48.781Z

This article does not have an ambition to be a complex analysis of what is happening in Iraq. Neither am I sure that its conclusion is right. Nevertheless, I feel I am offering you a likely explanation of why Iraq cannot become democratic in the near future.Let us first review the basic facts: Iraq is a middle-sized Muslim state, with no major faction being strong enough to hold power alone.

Tnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-1163549940841974422006-11-14T23:54:00.000Z2007-06-08T22:39:54.005Z

Every analyst likes predicting the future. John Witherow, The Sunday Times Editor, started off his speech to the York Union today by displaying a short film called "Epic 2015". The video, created by the Museum of Media History in Tampa Bay, is definitely worth watching: not only it forecasts the outlook for the media world, but also the way we will consume information. I personally believe that

Tnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-1161706024395096972006-10-24T15:58:00.000Z2007-05-03T17:31:20.590Z

The National Union of Students (NUS) is organising the National Demo against the university top-up fees on Sunday 29 October 2006 in the streets of London. The York University Students' Union aims to contribute the largest amount of students from all the northern universities, as it managed in 2003. It may as well achieve that, for the "trip" only sells for 5 pounds. I must admit I find the price

Tnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-1160532220737630222006-10-11T00:25:00.000Z2006-12-21T23:58:22.775Z

The Czech state treats the Czech expatriats rather harshly; for example, it disables the acquisition of double citizenship. An active, organised and well-targeted support of the expat organisations, as practised by Hungary, is missing painfully. As a consequence of this, the second or third generation of foreign Czechs have very weak bounds to their old homeland.In my opinion, the solution would

Tnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-1157935210762628842006-09-11T00:26:00.000Z2007-04-25T13:59:58.646Z

Last week, from Sunday 3 September to Friday 8 September I took part in the mythic JEF seminar at the island of Ventotene. Altiero Spinelli, the founder of Movimenta Federalista Europeo and the author of the of the federalist Ventotene Manifesto, was imprisoned there during the Fascist era. The magical soul of the place, the rich programme, but above all the stay among the fellow federalists made

Tnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-1156801658370935572006-08-28T20:24:00.001Z2006-12-22T00:01:23.641Z

Last week I was a participant at a unique summer school. It was organised by Asociace pro evropské hodnoty/the Association for European Values and held in the beautiful setting near Chotěboř, Czechia.The lecturers were about the best the Czech scene could provide. To start with, we had the political scientist Rudolf Kučera of the Caroline University, Prague talking about the European legacy left

Tnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-1152225777678953642006-07-06T22:20:00.000Z2006-12-22T00:02:54.896Z

To keep it short, I do firmly oppose prospective Turkish membership of the European Union. I believe that a federal Europe can survive if and only if there is a strong feeling of mutual identification and solidarity among European citizens. Put it simply, only if there is a strong sense of European identity, or better still - a European nation.I believe that people of Europe can never feel close

Tnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30329641.post-1151423694232541692006-06-27T15:54:00.000Z2007-04-17T23:50:00.921Z

Le Monde reports that leader of the French centrist UDF (Union pour la Démocratie Française) party François Bayrou said at a conference at the weekend that if the French were asked to vote again on the EU Constitution, which 55% of them rejected in the referendum last year, they would vote no "by more than 60%." So why have not the French attitudes towards the Constitution warmed?The main reason

Tnoreply@blogger.com9